The names of many of these “forgotten” artists are at least somewhat familiar to me. But I had never once heard of Brook Benton.
Benton was a singer-songwriter who recorded many hit R&B, soul, and rock singles and penned many more for other artists. While he was active from 1958 through 1978, most of his success came during the first half of the 60s.
When I came across The Dave Clark Five on the “forgotten artists” list, I was sure I’d featured them on the blog already. And I assumed I knew at least some of their music.
I think maybe I was confusing this act with jazz musician Dave Brubeck, who has a famous song called ‘Take Five,’ because I realized pretty quickly that Dave Clark and company are completely new to me.
I enjoyed last week’s look at some of history’s most forgotten artists — defined as those who enjoyed a great deal of success once upon a time but have almost no footprint today.
I covered five who had never appeared on the blog before, but the list (culled by writer Chris Dalla Riva for his Substack Can’t Get Much Higher) featured ten more 60s artists I’ve yet to feature. I’m going to highlight those acts over the next two weeks.
The week of June 22, 1985, found Bryan Adams topping the Hot 100 with ‘Heaven.’ It was Adams’ first #1 hit, one of four in his career. Interestingly, the other three were all movie themes: ‘(Everything I Do) I Do It For You’ from Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, ‘All for Love’ from The Three Musketeers, and ‘Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman?’ from Don Juan DeMarco.
Alas, I featured ‘Heaven’ ten years ago during a week of songs by Canadians tied to a family vacation, so you don’t get to hear that banger of a power ballad today.
Throwing back to the week of June 21, 1975, we find the husband and wife duo Captain & Tennille atop the Billboard Hot 100 with ‘Love Will Keep Us Together,’ their debut single.
The track is a faithful cover of a Neil Sedaka song released a couple of years earlier. Toni Tennille gives a nod to Sedaka in the final seconds, singing “Sedaka is back” over the fade-out.
Meet Me In Montauk 